Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Tigers Snatch Victory Away From Huntsville
PRAIRIE GROVE — Displaying resilience America became renowned for, Prairie Grove shook off a sequence of damaging tactical mistakes to pull off a 45- 43 boys basketball win over Huntsville Tuesday, Jan. 19.
“They’re kids and they’re going to make their mistakes, they’re going to make their mistakes and fortunately right now we’re making enough good plays to get these wins and that’s all you can ask for,” said Prairie Grove coach Steve Edmiston.
Judicial proceedings went against them.
Huntsville took a 32-30 lead on Matthew Sisk’s 18-foot bank shot 2:27 into the fourth. Then Edmiston got tagged with a technical foul and the Eagles pushed their advantage to three points on Hayden Dotson’s free throw when he made 1-of-2 technical shots.
Prairie Grove’s floor leader, senior Sloan Smith, went scoreless for the first 31 minutes.
“This is probably offensively his poorest game of the year, but then when it came down to it he kind of got us points. We needed them so badly and again that’s what you expect out of your seniors at crunch time to make those plays and get those points and he definitely did that for us tonight,” Edmiston said.
Smith found a way to create an impact. Smith passed to Landon Semrad, who knocked down a trey tying the game for the second time in the quarter.
Missed assignments hurt the Tigers defensively.
Slayter Watkins answered with a 3-point shot for Huntsville, and the Eagles led 36-33.
Yet, Prairie Grove refused to give up.
The Tigers needed only 20 seconds to match Watkins’ triple. Ethan Gross stroked a trifecta from the left wing, evening the score at 36-36 with 3:20 to go. On Prairie Grove’s next trip to offensive end, Gross got stripped of the ball in the paint, but he stuck with it, regained the ball and was fouled. His free throw gave Prairie Grove a 37-36 edge.
Missed opportunities cost them.
Knox Laird crashed the offensive glass coming away with a rebound, then reset the offense with a second chance only to watch Sisk steal a careless pass and drive the length of the court. Sisk was fouled and made both free throws putting Huntsville into a one-point, 38-37 lead with just over two minutes left.
Prairie Grove finally got a break.
Dotson committed the Eagles’ 10th team foul of the half putting the Tigers into a double bonus. Semrad stepped to the charity stripe and sank both as the lead changed hands one more time with Prairie Grove moving in front, 39-38.
Tigers capitalized when the ball bounced their way.
A tipped pass landed in the hands of Gross, who found himself in the right place at the right time, and laid the ball in stretching the lead to 41-38 with 1:04 to play.
Prairie Grove earned a critical defensive stop.
Smith stole the ball and drew a foul, recording his first two points of the game at the free-throw-line with 33.9 seconds showing, but Prairie Grove almost blew a 43-38 lead in the last 30 seconds.
Another missed defensive assignment allowed Huntsville to stay in the game.
Mason Davidson scored his only points of the game by driving to the hoop with 27.1 seconds on the clock then Huntsville took time-out.
The Tigers made a horrible mistake.
Prairie Grove turned the ball over which allowed Huntsville to in- bound underneath its own basket, setting up Hunter Davidson’s 3-pointer that evened the score at 43-43 with 18.1 seconds remaining.
In spite of all these errors, Prairie Grove found a way to win.
Smith controlled the dribble at the top- of- the- key milking the clock then drove to the basket, with his left hand, forcing Huntsville to either foul or give up a layup. The Eagles chose to foul and Smith made them pay by draining both charity shots.
Following Smith’s foul shots, the Eagles got off a long 3-point attempt across half-court, but it missed and time expired with the Tigers holding on for a 45-43 boys basketball 4A-1 Conference victory.
In the aftermath, Edmiston spoke about the quality of Huntsville’s basketball program.
“Huntsville is a good team. They’re always going to be able to shoot it and they’re always going to be able to defend it,” Edmiston said. “One thing I was worried about coming in was taking care of the basketball and I thought we did a great job of that. We did have some turnovers, but overall we did a real good job of taking care of it and giving ourselves good offensive possessions.”
The Tigers made up for a 5-point production in the third quarter by holding Huntsville to 7 points in the period.
“We didn’t shoot it well, at times I thought the third quarter was kind of miserable,” Edmiston said. “It was a back-and-forth game, we just kind of found ways to get the win. We made a crucial mistake late up three, giving them the ball back then. A big three tied it up and we come right back and we answer. Smith hits two huge free throws, put us back up two.”
PRAIRIE GROVE 45, HUNTSVILLE 43
Huntsville 12 8 7 16 — 43
Prairie Grove 15 10 5 15 — 45
Huntsville (7-9, 2-3): Matthew Sisk 5 3-6 14, Hunter Davidson 5 0-0 14, Slayter Watkins 2 0-0 6, Kross Easterling 2 0-0 5, Hayden Dotson 0 2-4 4. Totals 14 5-10 43.
Prairie Grove (8-6, 5-1): Ethan Gross 7 1-3 17, Knox Laird 3 0-0 7, Blake Gardner 3 0-0 6, Marco Martinez 2 0-0 6, Landon Semrad 1 2-2 5, Sloan Smith 0 4-5 4. Totals 19 7-10 45. 3-Point Goals — Prairie Grove 6 (Gross 2, Martinez 2, Laird, Semrad), Huntsville 8 (Davidson 4, Watkins 2, Easterling, Sisk).